Influencer or Instigator? Analyzing Online Content

Back in the 80s, if you wanted to get people riled up about their health, you had to buy a 30-minute infomercial slot at 3:00 AM or get a column in a tabloid sold next to the chewing gum at the grocery store. Today, all it takes is a ring light, a serious face, and a smartphone.

I’ll be the first to admit that the internet isn’t all bad. There are honest people out there sharing actual recipes, fixing sinks, or explaining how to change the oil in a lawnmower. But these days, those people are buried under a mountain of “wellness influencers” who have turned scaring you into a full-time career.

You’ve seen the videos. Some guy in a kitchen holding up a head of broccoli like it’s a live grenade, telling you the “hidden toxins” are destroying your gut. Or some woman claiming that the water you’ve been drinking for forty years is actually “dead” and you need her $300 alkalizing pitcher to revive it.

These people aren’t influencers. They’re instigators.

The formula is always the same. They take one tiny, microscopic grain of truth—maybe a study done on rats who were fed ten thousand times the normal amount of a substance—and they spin it into a “sky is falling” moment. They strip away all the context until the only thing left is fear. And wouldn’t you know it, the only cure for that fear is a convenient monthly subscription to their proprietary supplement blend.

It’s a grift, plain and simple.

If you want to tell the difference between a real expert and a grifter, look at their solution. An honest person usually tells you to do the boring stuff: eat some fiber, move your body, and get some sleep. A grifter tells you that everything you’re doing is dangerous and only they have the secret map to safety.

If someone’s “evidence” is a 15-second clip designed to make your heart rate spike, they aren’t trying to help you. They’re trying to sell you. Turn off the screen, go outside, and eat your vegetables. You’ll be fine.